IFAD – Setting a Global Standard

How do you know if the various rural development projects you invest in actually pay off? Are rural people’s lives better because of your involvement? Is the community in which you invest time and effort healthier and more productive?

It’s hard to measure achievements in rural development around the world. There are many different factors and metrics involved that require standardization. Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) is a critical process to help IFAD measure success in rural development.

To better measure success, IFAD partners up with the Center for Learning Evaluations And Results (CLEAR) to train and certify people in local communities around the world. This animation helps to explain the process.

Process

The biggest challenge for us on this project was to translate abstract ideas such as M&E into relevant visuals and make them fun at the same time. Our client is based in Rome, so we also had to make sure their script was appropriate for a global audience. Our first task was to research the topic and understand what each step of the process means in concrete terms. Then, we searched out real-life scenarios and created the visuals to demonstrate.

Stylistically, we wanted something very graphic, and illustrative. For non-native English speakers, we needed the story to be clear even if some of the voice-over was lost in translation. Luckily, the client gave us a lot of leeway interpreting the script. We focused on the message and found ways to make the visuals as interesting as possible.